Archive for the ‘School Rules’ Category
May 4, 2012
If you ever wanted proof that:
a. Schools have gone mad with over-regulation;
b. Political correctness is a form of sickness;
c. Free speech is not part of the modern day educational charter; and
d. You can be suspended nowadays for absolutely anything.
A Christian student suspended from a high school in Nova Scotia for sporting a T-shirt with the slogan “Life is wasted without Jesus” vows to wear it when he returns to class next week.
William Swinimer, who’s in Grade 12, was suspended from Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin in Lunenburg County for five days. He’s due to return to class on Monday.
The devout Christian says the T-shirt is an expression of his beliefs, and he won’t stop wearing it.
“I believe there are things that are bigger than me. And I think that I need to stand up for the rights of people in this country, and religious rights and freedom of speech,” he told CBC.
Officials with the South Shore Regional School Board plan to meet with Swinimer to hopefully reach a compromise.
Nancy Pynch-Worthylake, board superintendent, said some students and teachers found the T-shirt offensive.
“When one is able or others are able to interpret it as, ‘If you don’t share my belief then your life is wasted,’ that can be interpreted by some as being inappropriate,” she said.
So the school have just suspended him for 5 days for his horrendous crime (note sarcasm) and what is their first reaction on his return?
Officials with the South Shore Regional School Board plan to meet with Swinimer to hopefully reach a compromise.
Wow! Who gives a significant punishment and then seeks a compromise when that punishment has been shown up to be utterly useless? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? First you seek to compromise, then if nothing eventuates, you consider a punishment.
I don’t endorse the message of this boys’ t-shirt, but I fully stand up for his right to wear it. Free speech is a hallmark of a working democracy. Free speech entitles this child to wear his t-shirt, even if others feel a bit uncomfortable with the message. Sure, the Prinsipal can ask him to stop wearing it, but should not be able to force him.
We have got to stop getting tangled under the oppression of political correctness. Instead, we must leave suspensions for real behavioural offences and do everything in our powers to ensure that free speech and the other tenets of our democratic systems are alive and well in the schoolyard.
Tags:Christian, Education, Forest Heights Community School, Life is wasted without Jesus, Nancy Pynch-Worthylake, News, Nova Scotia, Parenting, Political Correctness, School Rules, South Shore Regional School Board, T-shirt, William Swinimer
Posted in Political Correctness, School Rules | 4 Comments »
April 23, 2012
Our children have been unfairly dealt with thanks to the rise in litigation. No longer are they able to climb on outdoor equipment, play ball games with balls made of anything more substantial than felt or even do cartwheels in the playground. Occupational Health and Safety in schools has gone from responsible to absolutely over the top! This not only causes great stress to Principals and staff but it clearly diminishes the few freedoms our children have been known to enjoy at school.
Why has there been such a significant upgrading of Occupational Health and Safety requirements in our schools? Perhaps this example explains it:
A 13-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl is being sued by a classmate over a tennis court mishap at one of Queensland’s top private schools in the latest blow to playground fun.
The legal claim, over a bruised eye, has raised concerns that “litigation-crazy” parents could threaten the future of school sport by forcing up insurance costs.
It may also force parents to take out third-party accident insurance for their children.
Several Queensland schools have already banned activities including tiggy, red rover and cartwheels because of injury fears.
The legal stoush has embroiled the daughters of a leading Gold Coast cardiologist and an architect, and the prestigious Somerset College.
Cardiologist Guy Wright-Smith said he was “gobsmacked” to receive the damages claim, addressed to his 13-year-old daughter Julia, at his rooms on Friday.
The claim alleges Julia had hit classmate Finley Enright-Burns in the eye with a tennis ball during a tennis lesson at the Mudgeeraba school last October. It alleges Julia was “smashing” balls back to Finley on the baseline when the incident happened.
Finley did not go to hospital but is alleged to have suffered an eye injury which needed medical treatment.
The claim, filed on behalf of Finley by her architect father Paul Burns, also names Somerset College and its Jay Deacon’s Tennis School as defendants.
“It’s bizarre … beyond belief,” Dr Wright-Smith told The Courier-Mail yesterday.
The claim says the tennis school failed to provide adequate supervision or protective eyewear and allowed Julia and Finley to stand too close together and Julia to hit two balls at once.
Somerset College also breached its duty of care, the claim alleges.
Damages have not been specified but the Wright-Smiths are required to respond within 30 days.
“I couldn’t believe it when I opened this legal letter addressed to my 13-year-old daughter,” Dr Wright-Smith said yesterday
Tags:Education, Education Policy, Guy Wright-Smith, Insurance, Jay Deacon, Law, litigation-crazy, Mudgeeraba, Parenting, Paul Burn, Political Correctness, Queensland, red rover, School Rules, Somerset College, tennis, third-party accident insurance, tiggy
Posted in Education Policy, Political Correctness, School Rules | 1 Comment »
April 22, 2012
Whatever used to work when it comes to behaviour management methods (including the awful practice of corporal punishment) no longer does. Suspensions are distributed like handouts and are becoming increasingly meaningless. Detentions have never successfully changed attitudes or reformed students.
I have argued for a while that schools need to address their culture. They need to become more interested in the types of offences their student body commits both within and outside of school. They need to work with the parents and support them, even when the problem is not considered a school responsibility. This shows that the school really does care about the welfare of its students and has a desire to see that its children are making healthy lifestyle choices at school and at home.
It is sad that when a school does take these steps, they are often met with a “a tsunami’’ of outrage:
A new school policy that would hold students accountable for their actions year-round has generated a storm of opposition, according to Dedham officials, and has been put on ice until it can be reviewed and possibly rewritten by a newly established subcommittee.
The policy, which was approved in late March by a majority of Dedham School Committee members, spells out school penalties for violence and drug or alcohol use, even if the actions occur off school property when school is not in session.
It also calls for punishing youths who are at the scene of, but not participating in, such activities. Selectman Paul Reynolds said his board was in the dark about that aspect of the new policy until selectmen were overwhelmed by “a tsunami’’ of outrage.
“I sympathize with these parents,’’ said Reynolds, who will sit on the subcommittee that examines the document with Selectman Carmen Dello Iaccono, Police Chief Michael d’Entremont, and several School Committee members.
“Holding a club over kids’ heads 52 weeks a year with increasingly punitive sanctions sends the message that we suspect the worst of them, instead of expecting the very best from them,’’ said Reynolds.
Actually, I think it’s the parents that try to block this sensible policy that are sending the message that they suspect the worst of their children, instead of expecting the very best from them.
Tags:alcohol, American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Carmen Dello Iaccono, Classroom Management, Dave Roberts, Dedham, Drugs, Education, June Doe, Paul Reynolds, Police Chief Michael d’Entremont, Sarah Wunsch, school policy, School Rules, Violence
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April 12, 2012
I believe that religious schools, within reason, should be allowed to enforce extra regulations on their staff as they see fit. This is of course provided that the staff are made fully aware of the rules before they are employed.
The question still remains. Is it reasonable to fire teachers for falling pregnant outside of marriage?
A teacher and coach at a private Christian school in Texas fired for an unwed pregnancy wants to set the record straight about who she is for those who question her fitness as a “Christian role model.”
“I’m not just some teacher that went out to a bar and go pregnant and went back to school saying it’s okay,” Cathy Samford told ABCNews.com today. “I was in a committed relationship the whole time and probably would have been married if things had gone differently and this would be a non-situation.”
Samford, 29, was in her third year as a volleyball coach at Heritage Christian Academy in Rockwall, Tex., and her first year as a middle school science teacher when she discovered she was pregnant in the fall of 2011.
She and her fiance had been planning to get married at the end of the summer, but a series of events had delayed the wedding.
Samford said she never dreamed she would be fired for her pregnancy and went into her conversations with the school thinking their biggest concern would be her missing part of the basketball season since she was supposed to coach.
When she was told she was being terminated, Samford was “totally shocked.”
“I didn’t think I would lose my job,” Samford said. “I was in shock and devastated and that’s when I said, ‘If this is the problem, I’m willing, and so is my fiancé, to go ahead and get married. That wasn’t the issue. We were going to get married regardless.”
The school denied her offer.
Tags:Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Cathy Samford, Christa Dias, Christian, Christianity, Dr. Ron Taylor, Education, Heritage Christian Academy, Jarretta Hamilton, Marriage, News, Pregnancy, religion, School Rules, Schools, Teacher, unwed pregnancy
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December 29, 2011
I understand that teachers in a religious school cannot be “seen” to have radically opposed views to the school they are teaching at. For instance, I am not opposed to a religious school requesting their science teachers to subsist from proferring a personal view about creation which isn’t consistent with their religious beliefs.
But as long as a teacher doesn’t broadcast their differing views or lifestyle choices what is the problem? How can a teacher undergoing artificial insemination lose her job because of it in today’s age? Worse still, the reason for her dismissal was that she had done a “grave immoral act.”
There was nothing immaculate about a Catholic school teacher’s conception.
Christa Dias, a former teacher at Holy Family and St. Lawrence Catholic schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, claims she was fired for becoming pregnant using artificial insemination.
Ms Dias was fired in October 2010 when, at five and a half months pregnant, she approached her employer about maternity leave options.
The schools initially fired Ms Dias, 32, for being single and pregnant, Cincinnati.com reports.
When the schools discovered that violated several federal and state anti-discrimination laws, they said she was fired because she became pregnant using artificial insemination.
That, the school said, was in direct violation of her contract.
‘She has a right to her opinion, but she doesn’t have a right to violate her (employment) contract,’ Archdiocese of Cincinnati spokesman Dan Andriacco told the website.
The contract Ms Dias signed called for employees to adhere to Catholic social teachings, including the avowal that having a child without a husband and out of wedlock is a ‘grave immoral’ act.
Many will argue that a contract is a contract and if you break a contract you should suffer the consequences. Well, I think the contract is unconstitutional. It is time to ban religious school from imposing these restrictive and highly inappropriate contracts. Sure, if she had personally advocated artificial insemination to her students, I would understand if the school would react by releasing her from her contract.
But she didn’t flaunt her personal choice. She kept it a secret. Firing her may be legal at the moment, but something should be done to stop religious school from imposing such restrictions in the future.
Tags:artificial insemination, Catholic school, Christa Dias, Dan Andriacco, Education, Holy Family and St. Lawrence Catholic schools, life, maternity leave, News, Parenting, pregnant, religion, Reverend James Kiffermeyer, School
Posted in School Rules | 7 Comments »
November 18, 2011
I can’t stand knee-jerk reactions that result in banning something which enriches the lives and experiences of many. Banning balls from the schoolyard is a sure-fire way of taking the one thing most children enjoy doing at school and expecting them to just go along with it. When you take away a child’s right to let off some steam at recess through the healthy pursuit of a football game, you are potentially ruining that child’s day.
I sympathise with teachers and parents that have been hit by a stray ball. I was once hit so hard that I was on all fours during yard duty. It is an extremely unpleasant experience. But it’s still not a good reason for banning balls:
Earl Beatty Public School’s decision to ban the use of hard balls on their playground because of safety concerns has prompted an outcry from the little people in the line of fire.
Students who wish to play games like soccer and football are having to make due with foam substitutes, and they don’t like it. Some in this elementary school near Coxwell and Danforth have gone as far as creating signs and petitions to express their frustration.
“I think it’s great. They absolutely see the ridiculousness of this situation – it’s straight from the heart,” said parent Diana Symonds, who has three children in grades 4 and 5.
“It’s like kicking around a sponge,” said Joey McDermott, a Grade 8 student. “They’re expecting all the little kids to get hurt. We got hurt when we were younger and we’re fine now.”
Foam balls are no substitute. They squash under your feet and cannot be played with if the ground is even slightly wet. I know we live in a litigious society and schools are afraid of lawsuits.
That’s why I think politicians should step in and legislate to allow schools to look after their students without the fear of having to go to court because of it.
Tags:Alicia Fernandez, Balls, Ban, Bans, Coxwell, Danforth, Earl Beatty Public School, Education, hard balls, life, News, Parenting, Playground, Safety, School Rules, Sport
Posted in School Rules | 3 Comments »
October 4, 2011
I remember how frustrating it was to have to raise my hand before I could speak in class. The teacher took what felt like an eternity to pick me.
First I would go for the conventional right arm raised high, complete with perfect posture and enthusiastic eye contact. But then my arm grew tired.
Plan B was to swap arms, this time using the left, but with the same steely determination to get chosen. But after a while, my arm would again become tired.
Finally I would go for the two arm job. My right arm would be raised with my left used as support behind the elbow, propping it up in the hope that I could last until my name would eventually get the call.
And then, after all that, I would remain overlooked and reluctantly gave up the fight and threw in the towel.
And that was just to ask permission to go to the bathroom …
As you may have guessed I’m not a fan of raised hands. It amazed me at Uni during tutorials how civil a lesson can be when raising hands was replaced by two simple unspoken rules – wait your turn and don’t interject.
That’s why I’m dumbfounded that a simple change like replacing hand raising with the far less strenuous “thumbs-up” motion, could me met with so much criticism:
Pupils at Burlington Junior School in Bridlington, East Yorks, have been asked to adopt the new hand signal to create a more relaxed classroom.
The children – aged eight and nine – have now been told to get the teachers attention by giving a thumbs up while cupping their hand.
But parents at the 360-pupil school have blasted the decision as “daft” after it was introduced at the beginning of this school year and say the clidren look like The Fonz, from the television comedy Happy Days.
Dad-of-three Dave Campleman, 44, who has two children at the school, said: “I thought it was a joke at first. It’s daft. I can’t see the logic in it.
“Fair enough if it was across the board, but I’ve not heard of any other schools doing it.
The driving instructor added: “I think it’s a bit pointless, it’s not benefiting their education – they could focus on other things.
“Kids are used to putting their hands up, it is natural for them. Being told to do something different just confuses them.
“I am just bemused by it. I think they should go back to the old way of putting your hand up in class.”
And teachers at the pupil school have even taken to putting up signs to discourage kids from raising their hand.
In one poster campaign plastered on the walls of classrooms, a thick red cross can be seen through an image of a raised arm to discourage children from using the old method.
Next to it is an image of a pupil doing a thumbs up aimed at helping pupils get to grips with the change.
Another parent, who has a son in the class but didn’t want to be named, said: “It is going to make the class look like they are all imitating the Fonz from Happy Days.
“On a serious note when these kids go up to secondary school next year they could be a laughing stock because all the other children will be putting up their hands.
“I think there should have been more consultation from the school with the parents over this and perhaps a trial first before an outright ban.
“I can’t really see it making the classroom more relaxed – they are young, excitable kids and putting up your thumb instead of your arm isn’t going to change that.”
It’s amazing how a simple change can create such angst. I think the signs are a light-hearted send up of the stereotypical rigid school rule. It’s not as if children are going to be punished for accidentally raising their hands.
As for the kids becoming a laughing-stock in High School, one might be surprised to know that children aren’t stupid. Treat them like mature young adults and you may be in for a pleasant surprise.
Tags:Bridlington, Burlington Junior School, Cheryle Adams, Children, Dave Campleman, Education, Happy Days, life, News, School, Students, The Fonz
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August 22, 2011
Whilst I feel that the courts made the correct ruling, preventing an Indiana high school from punishing two girls for posting racy photos online, I applaud the school for trying to address the behaviour. This was clearly not a school issue and therefore not within their jurisdiction. This was something the parents of the two girls could either address or ignore. But what I like about this story is that a school cared enough about their reputation, setting an example of proper behaviour and helping those two girls reflect on their actions.
Two Indiana girls — one 16, one 15 — took racy photos of themselves at a slumber party and posted them online. When their high school found out, it suspended the girls from participating in a certain amount of their extracurricular activities. Can the school legally do that?
A federal district court in Fort Wayne, Ind., recently ruled that it cannot — because the punishment violated the girls’ First Amendment rights. The legal question of what rights students have to post provocative material on the Internet, and what rights schools have to restrict such postings, is still unsettled.
I hope schools become far more active on the subject of cyberbullying and cybersafety, two issues which are not clearly within the jurisdiction of schools. For too long schools have been only too happy to turn a blind eye to what their students do outside the school gates.
This was not the appropriate time to act but at least it wasn’t summarily ignored like so many other matters are.
Tags:Cybersafety, Education, Fort Wayne, Inadiana High School, Internet, life, Online, Parenting
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July 12, 2011
It’s ironic that administrators are banning football and cartwheels in some playgrounds whilst schools on the other side of the world are playing with bombs during recess.
A mine awareness team in Uganda were horrified to find an unexploded bomb being used as a bell when they visited a school to teach children how to spot bombs, a local newspaper reported.
The Anti-Mine Network organisation saw teachers banging the bomb with stones to call children to lessons in a 700-pupil school in a rural area, the Daily Monitor said.
“Its head was still active, which means that if it is hit by a stronger force, it would explode instantly and cause untold destruction in the area,” Wilson Bwambale, coordinator of the organisation, told the newspaper.
Mr Bwambale said they would explode it in a cordoned-off area.
The Ugandan military has fought two rebel insurgencies over the last two decades and mines and bombs still litter former battlefields around the country.
This is the second bomb that the Anti-Mine Network have found in a Ugandan school in the last six months.
Another was found being used by children at lunchtime as a toy and put away in a storeroom during lessons.
Thankfully no one was hurt. Football in the playground doesn’t seem so bad now. Not that it ever did ….
Tags:Anti-Mine Network, Bombs, Cartwheels, Education, Football, life, Mines, News, Playground, Recess, Soccer, Uganda
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May 31, 2011
Some schools just don’t get it! Their job goes beyond education. They are looking after people’s kids! Schools are duty bound to actually look after the safety of their students (as opposed to just saying they do in a catchy but meaningless slogan). They must understand that parents don’t give the responsibility of having others look after their kids lightly. It’s not like giving over the keys to your car to the valet. It’s a huge deal.
That’s why schools must do their utmost to earn the confidence and respect of their parents. They must be actively protecting the students whilst also communicating regularly with parents. To have a school issue a dictate that all students wear baggy clothes to ward off probable paedophiles is a disgrace! How is a parent supposed to take that advice?
Furious parents yesterday criticised a school after they were asked to buy their children baggy clothes to deter paedophiles.
King’s Park Secondary School, in Glasgow, asked parents to ensure modesty in their children’s uniform in a bizarre letter which claims sex offenders may be taking pictures of schoolboys in tight trousers.
The letter, dubbed ‘paranoid in the extreme’ by one parent, was sent home even though police say there have been no incidents of schoolchildren in the area being targeted.
And children whose parents fail to conform to the approved dress code could be forced to miss out on fun school trips.
The letter says: ‘We believe an appropriate school uniform protects children from being targeted by sexual predators.
‘There is recent evidence in south Glasgow of adults photographing schoolgirls in short skirts and schoolgirls/boys in tight trousers, then grooming them through the internet.
‘We must do all we can to keep our children safe. A modest school uniform is more appropriate than fashion skirts, trousers or tops.’
The crackdown on pupil attire has been slammed by shocked parents whose children don’t want to obey the strict rules.
One blasted: ‘There is no way an ugly uniform is going to deter a predator and determined sex offender.
‘This is just paranoid in the extreme. There are better ways to safeguard children than spreading needless panic.’
Another added: ‘It is laughable to think the uniform can act as some sort of paedophile-repellent.’
The tough new policy forces cash-strapped parents to shop from an approved list of items available only at high street store Marks and Spencer.
Girls can wear only knee-length pleated skirts or trousers and boys loose-fitting trousers.
This is an awful thing to do to parents. To play on their fears and insight paranoia is just unacceptable. I am glad Australian schools aren’t so stupid and downright insensitive!
Tags:Education, Education Policy, Family, King's Park Secondary School, life, Modesty, News, Parenting, School, School Rules, Schools, Uniform
Posted in Education Policy, School Rules | 1 Comment »
Topical Teaching 